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Welcome & getting started
@Historylover wrote:But is there anything you are doing for yourself @chibam? Like learning something new.
I like watching movies. Especially the great classics. Just recently, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade was on TV and I was once again struck by what a perfect movie it is; so funny, so thrilling, so awesome. RIP Sean Connery.
Learning is a toxic process for me. Put simply, the more I learn, the more I resent being alive, and the more useless I feel. I've actually had some limited success trying to develop techniques to erase and/or overwrite the things I've learned in the past, but I don't know if or how I can refine them any further.
@Historylover wrote:I don't know how you find all of these inquiries.
To be perfectly honest, it's mostly dumb luck. Occasionally I stuble upon a tweet or news article that alludes to some ongoing inquiry; though more often then not, these only alert me to an inquiry well after it's already been concluded. Some of them get significant press, such as the Victorian Royal Inquiry and the Productivity Commission Inquiry.
The suicide prevention inquiry that I mentioned recently came to my attention via a footnote on a mailing-list email I recieved from "Australians For Mental Health". There was another "mental health"-themed inquiry mentioned there too, but I spent so much time on the suicide prevention one that I didn't have enough time left over to do anything proper about the second inquiry.
The parliament house website has a list of some of the government inquiries that are going on at any given time. I pop in there from time-to-time - probably not as often as I ought to.
@Historylover wrote:You sound 'down' @chibam I hope you are not feeling as low as me. Stay well.
Perhaps not so much 'down' as 'burn out'. But I appreciate the well-wishes. 
Hi @Historylover .
Actually, my school days were a bit of a mixed bag. I used to regard them very fondly, but I've since come to realize that almost all of the good stuff was just a fiction that I'd talked myself into believing. I hold on to the fiction; I don't really remember - or care to remember - the rest of it.
@Historylover wrote:I had a quick look in at "Australians for Mental Health" and subscribed to it. I'll be looking into it further. I'll look into the Parliament House site tomorrow and if you can recommend any others I would be most interested in checking them out.
IMHO, "Australians for Mental Health" is an okay movement; not great. I signed on to their mailing list years ago, back when it seemed like they were the only organization who were even close to acknowledging that the mental health system has some severe problems. They've always been chiefly oriented towards the "the system needs more money to be what Australians need" agenda, with comparitively little interest in the fact that the system's ethics and conduct are far more grievous problems then it's financial issues. However, I get the impression that gradually they seem to be growing more attentive to the system's character flaws.
I stay on the mailing list mostly just incase they bring anything of interest to light; but I'm not really involved with them.
@Historylover wrote:Sorry you're feeling burnt out. I understand that. I hope trying to navigate relationships - with me - for instance, isn't contributing too much to it. Relationships are difficult. One subject I'll probably never master. I try.
Navigate relationships, yes; with you, no. As you say, they are difficult. But we live in hope for ones that will be intuitive and rewarding.
@Historylover wrote:family is the only place any of us truly fit. To my mind, when we have family we don't really need friends - they are just acquaintances - where they exist - an added side benefit, but if we have friends without family we are lost and always looking for where we fit in - and we always had it and simply didn't know it. There is no substitute for family. For those who truly have none - these would be absorbed into other 'families'. This revelation is a work in progress. Any thoughts?
I very much agree. I would only add a clarification (and maybe this was your intended meaning anyway?) that "family" can't be defined by biological ties as we currantly tend to do. I'm not saying that biological relatives can't be family, but being a biological relative - even an immediate one - doesn't necessarily mean that someone is family.
IMHO, Family is about commonality of soul, not commonality or compatability of DNA, or even prolonged physical proximity.
@Historylover wrote:This feeds into psychiatry and its allied fields also. Most patients in these settings have family problems. I don't think I've ever found exceptions. How can therapists heal a patient when their family - immediate and extended - their tribe - where they truly belong - is in turmoil? This is an enormous familial and social issue as much as a medical issue - in my opinion. Everyone seems to be looking for friends when family is what they truly need. Families looking out for each other. United we stand - divided we fall. Throwing money at any problem fixes nothing.
This was such a huge part of my terrible ordeal with the system. How often was I promised: "reach out to a professional. There is help available!"? Only to learn that it was always a very deliberate lie.
I was alone. I had no family (relatives, yes; family, no). When you are alone without a family, a guarantee of "help" means: "We will unite you with your family!" Only to be teased and tormented by a therapist for 7 damn years, and then to learn a vouple years after the fact that: "the golden rule of therapy is to not offer patients any actual assistance with their problems, or even meaningful advice."
And I certainly agree about the money bit. You'd be amazed how deeply obsessed my therapist was with money and how heavilly she kept pushing it as the answer to all my problems. But to be fair, she isn't the only one I've encountered with that fixation. I've never been able to crack the riddle of how to communicate with such people with such bizarre priorities, or even figure out whether there is anything to gain by succeeding.
In a nutshell, I agree with you completely!
@Historylover wrote:Nice people but I don't fit in any of the groups I have met with to date. Except here. I have derived a great deal of solice, friendship and decency here and have enjoyed my time here very much. Actually I hadn't thought it would be of much help to me at all but, to my surprise, I have come back to it time and time again. Live and learn! I have come a long way in a short time and am very grateful for that.
Glad to hear it! 
@Historylover wrote:Well - that is my soap-box for now. Be happy @chibam You have been something of a 'rock' to me here - as have many others.
Aww. Thank you! 
Hi @Historylover .
I'll probably have to make this just a quick reply as I'm running short on time.
I'm very sorry to hear about your housing worries. I'm afraid I don't really know anything about solving housing problems, so I can't offer you any advice. I can only offer my best wishes that wherever you end up, there is family there; a home, not just a house.
I agree with you about the broken cycle of government leaning on the crooked therapists to provide the advice about what needs to be done for "mentally ill people" - which of course, only makes the system even worse. But I am cautiously optimistic that things might be starting to change, with the large amount of recent calls to make "consumer input" the key element of future policy design.
Yes, I most definitely have given up on "therapy" - at least until the system changes into one that is designed to offer real, effective help to it's patients.
As for my day: it's actually been pretty rotten. I've done something silly to my ankle (not sure what) and it's been swollen and painful all weekend; almost impossible to hobble on, let alone walk. And it's that sort of pain that shoots right through your entire body, you know? So, it's fair to say I've been feeling just plain lousy these past 24hrs or so.
Once again, sorry for the rushed reply, but I just wanted you to know that I read your post and agree with what you say very much.
